BY MICHAEL THOMPSON
Rudis Sylva ’ s unconventional Harmonious Oscillator meshes balance teeth to counteract gravity ’ s pull .
You don ’ t need a loupe to see that the Rudis Sylva RS 16 is not powered by a conventional movement . At first glance the device with two balances may appear to be a double tourbillon . A more horologically fluent observer might dub it a carrousel , assuming that the entire escapement rotates . Both guesses , however , would be incorrect . Rudis Sylva , the atelier-sized independent watchmaking company celebrating its tenth year in 2016 , has created its own movement for the RS 16 that , while sharing a few aspects with a tourbillon or carrousel , is neither .
Called the Harmonious Oscillator , the caliber operates with dual balances mounted on a rotating cage that completes a full revolution in 60 seconds , like many tourbillons .
But where the real ingenuity lies is in the interplay of the twin balance wheels themselves . While only one receives the impulses from the sole escape wheel , the other acts almost as counterweight to average out the timing performance that otherwise might be affected by the pull of gravity and friction . While one balance / hair spring is wound taught during the oscillating cycle , the other is fully expanding . This dance creates an instant and ongoing average timing of the pair .
And look more closely : those balance wheels — not just the hairsprings – are physically connected . Equally odd are the
2017 | WRISTWATCH 39